Woodstock School Alumni Magazine Vol CIV, 2011

16 - Quadrangle
Baccalaureate address
A Time to Remember
Rev. Dale Seefeldt ’64
Dr. Laurenson, esteemed teachers, staff, parents;
honored members of the Class of 2011:
Mrs. Seefeldt and I are delighted to be back
at Woodstock to celebrate the end of a great
school year and the graduation of a distinguished
group of students. Thank you for the
opportunity to be here…and for the honor of
being invited! I know all of you will understand
if I address my remarks primarily to the
members of the graduating class.
In 1965, near the end of my first year in college,
a rock group called the Byrds—yes, we
did have rock music back then—came out
with a hit song protesting the Vietnam War.
The title was “Turn, Turn, Turn.” They took
the words of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, our text, adding
the line, “I swear it’s not too late,” after
the final verse about war and peace-a word
pair that had also attracted the attention of
Leo Tolstoy. So if it helps you listen, we are
talking about rock music!
But these are originally the words of Solomon,
the king of Israel known for his wisdom
and for the prosperity his people enjoyed.
Part of what he has to say is summed up
in his first couplet: “There is a time for
everything, and a season for every activity
under the heavens.” Here you can see
the parallelism that is essential to Hebrew
poetry—the same idea repeated in different
words, slightly rephrased, or two ideas related
because they are opposites, as in the next
fourteen lines. As soon as you recognize this
structure, you begin to understand what the
poet is doing. He’s talking about the whole
of human life— “everything…every activity
under the heavens.” In fact, his first pair of
contrasts sets parentheses around all human
life, beginning with birth and ending with
death—nothing is left out. The following
pairs are similarly—and stunningly—broad.
They make you respond and readily agree
because they are fundamentally human and
true for just about anyone: “a time to plant
and a time to uproot” (gardeners do it all the
time); “a time to tear down and a time to
build” (we can look out the window and see
that, no matter where we live!); “a time to
weep and a time to laugh” (just look around
you at the graduation ceremonies tomorrow!).
You’ll notice there’s even a time to keep silent—an
important lesson! In another place
Solomon says, “Even a fool who keeps silent
is considered wise; when he closes his lips,
he is deemed intelligent!” This is a strategy
worth considering as you start college! So the
poet is saying that each of these very different
activities has an appointed time.
This sounds reasonable, but when the list is
ended, he has something more to add: God is
the One who appoints the time. Verse eleven
completes the thought of verse one: “He has
made everything beautiful in its time. He
has also set eternity in the human heart, yet
no one can fathom what God has done from
beginning to end.” In other words, there is a
time for everything that happens to you, and
you can have confidence that God designed
your “times” to be beautiful—even if you
can’t understand how they all fit together just
yet. Having a sense of these “times” helps
us be ready for the bad times as well as the
good—they, too, are part of the rhythm of life.
With God in the picture, life makes sense.
Without Him in the picture, it is hard to find
purpose and meaning in what happens to us.
In fact, this is Solomon’s underlying thesis
throughout his book. In chapter twelve he
advises, “Remember your creator in the days
of your youth.” Along with the planting and
uprooting that is happening to you, along
with the mourning and dancing, the weeping
and laughing that tomorrow brings, you have
come to a time when it is also important to
remember.
First of all, remember where you came from.
Remember the parents who brought you here.
Remember your home, your family, your
land. I’m reminded of the joyful words that
burst out from Jaishankar Prasad at India’s
independence:
अरुण यह मधुमय देश हमारा।
जहाँ पहुँच अनजान क्षितिज को
मिलता एक सहारा।
सरस तामरस गर्भ विभा पर
नाच रही तरुशिखा मनोहर।
छिटका जीवन हरियाली पर
मंगल कुंकुम सारा।।
लघु सुरधनु से पंख पसारे
शीतल मलय समीर सहारे।
उड़ते खग जिस ओर मुँह किए
समझ नीड़ निज प्यारा।।
बरसाती आँखों के बादल
बनते जहाँ भरे करुणा जल।
लहरें टकरातीं अनंत की
पाकर जहाँ किनारा।।
हेम कुंभ ले उषा सवेरे
भरती ढुलकाती सुख मेरे।
मंदिर ऊँघते रहते जब
जग कर रजनी भर तारा।।
—जयशंकर प्रसाद
Prasad conjures up the images of beauty in
a new dawn, even the far horizon finding a
refuge, birds feeling at home, each finding her
own beloved nest, clouds like monsoon eyes
weeping merciful rain, and the eternal waves
of the sea finding a shore at last. I remember
my delight the first time I read this poem—
delight at the poet’s intense, unabashed joy in
the smallest details of his homeland. It is right
for you to take joy in where you come from
and who you are. I have learned much from
the parents of many of you as they have come
to visit the School over the years you have attended.
Woodstock would be nothing without
their searching questions, their patience, their
love and ready involvement in what happens
here. Remember where you came from—and
cherish it. Its value is beyond reckoning.
This is a time to remember. Look back,
remember where you came from. But look
around you too, remember where you are
now. Remember what you have learned here,
how you have grown. Remember your teachers
and your friends. Remember whom you
have loved, what you have shared. In short,